Family not by Blood
by ArashiKira
Summary: Catherine Simpson didn't expect to adopt a son that one day four years ago, nor did she expect what would happen now. With the help of an old friend, she must protect the one she sees as her true child from an unexpected threat, and learn that family is not determined by blood, appearence, or even species. Same univers as Sakura's Journey, stories unrelated.
1. Chapter 1

**Familly not by Blood. Chapter 1. Catherine Simpson**

As I drove my car down the busy streets, heading towards my son's school, I thought back on how things all came to be this way. I, Catherine Simpson, single since practically forever, had somehow obtained a son. Four years ago, I came across a young boy and a woman. The boy was crying, looking miserable. I suppose it was my instinct to help. "Is something wrong?" I asked the woman. She smiled to me sadly and guided me away a bit. This confused me, and I looked back to the young boy who's eyes swam with tears.

"His parents both died a few days ago...he has nobody left." I found out the woman worked with the police, and soon enough, I'm still not sure how, I had adopted this four year old boy, named Jake. He had wheat blonde hair and wide innocent brown eyes. Anyone would know right away we couldn't possibly be related by blood... I had curly black hair and green eyes.

As I arrived at Jake's school, I saw him playing in the school yard. In his own unique way... All the other kids were skipping rope or playing tag or ball or something. Little Jake sat alone in his corner, playing with something in his hands. I parked the car and aproached him. His bright brown eyes looked up to me, suddently brightening from seeing me. "Hey Mommy! Look what I found!" I don't think anyone would understand the pure sense of joy when an adopted child calls you "mom". The first time Jake had was at least two years ago. He cuped his hands and raised them up. I peeked inside and my eyes widened. He was holding a little spotted salamander. "You know you can't bring it home, right?" He pouted and set the little animal on the ground. "I know...I know." He took my hand and we walked off.

As we drove back towards home, his expression darkened. I always knew how he was feeling. "You ok, Jakey?" Through the rearview mirror, I saw him look up. "I had an other "weird moment"." I raised a brow. "weird moments" were a term he came up with to describe these strange events that always seemed to follow him. "What was it this time?" "I was working on my computer collage project when the mean boy came to tell me it was ugly. I got real sad and then the other kids started laughing. When I got up to go tell the teacher, all the computers on my side of the room died. I lost my project." He crossed his arms and pouted, looking out the window. I smiled sadly. As he looked out the window, he spoke. And what he said next made me gasp.

"Mommy, do you think the thing making the "weird moments" turned off the computers because it agreed my project was ugly?" "Of course not! I'm sure it was wonderful. That boy was only jealous of you because your work is so much better than his." He smiled and giggled. I liked it when he smiled. I didn't try to tell him those "weird moments" were only his imagination. He's believed them to be real for months now, and I soon ended up believing in them too. It generally revolved around electronics going haywire. On a few occasions though, groups of people around us would start experiencing dizziness and headaches. It was never us though...but always following us.

The apartment building came into view. It was a nice little place, although small. It was in a pretty quiet neighborhood. Vines clung to the side of the building, reaching all the way up to the third floor front window; Jake's window. We got out of the car and started heading up-stairs. "So other than the "weird moment", anything interesting happen at school today?" Jake looked lost in thought for a moment before vigourously shaking his head. Not many things happened in his life other than the unexplained phenomena. He had steady very good grades and not too many friends. Our life was pretty uneventful. It made me wish for a little excitement. But as I thought this, that little voice of conciousness at the back of my mind rose up to me. "_Be careful what you wish for."_

**AN: Hello people. This is ArashiKira here with my new story. I'm not done with the Nature's Spirit One-Shots, don't worry. I'm just out of ideas for that for now and really inspired to start writing this. Gonna be different from my other stories. Same fictional univers, brand new characters, brand new level of darkness. Keep your eyes peeled, inter-fanfic refferences will be everywhere ;)**

**ps: don't expect everyday updates. I'm only coming up with the basic concept, though I already have all my characters, writing style and story line pretty much planned out already.**


	2. Chapter 2

**Family not by Blood. Chapter 2 Lee**

My alarm clock rang in it's awful pitch, waking me from my peaceful sleep. I hit the snooze button and groaned, rubbing the sleep from my eyes. Light was streaming in through the burgundy curtains. It was cloudy today, again. It had been cloudy for weeks. I stood up and walked over to the kitchen. It was about seven in the morning. I made myself coffee and began working on breakfast. I took a spare minute to go wake-up Jake.

"Hey Jakey, come on, get up! It's morning." The young boy rolled over and simply grunted in aknowledgement, but didn't show any signs of actually getting up. I grabed on to his shoulder, about to shake him awake, but then I flinched from him, holding onto my head, my ears ringing. As I backed away a bit, it stopped. "I'll...I'll give you time to wake up." I walked back out of the room, heading back to the kitchen before anything got burnt.

As I stired the eggs, I thought back to what happened, and not just this one time. Things like this happened all the time. It hadn't escaped the possibilities of my mind that Jake could, in fact, be the source of all these strange phenomena. They did seem to only take place when he felt strong emotions. But what did this mean? If he had some kind of strange condition, there was no way of knowing. His parents had both died years ago and from the start, he appeared to have entirely forgotten everything about his father. But there was Lee...

Lee was a good friend of mine. I had met him in a local café about a year ago. He had recently quit his job, which was supposedly with the government. He never told me what that job was, those secretive morons. Now, he worked as a librarian, at the same library I worked. Lee had always seemed facinated by everything about my adopted son and these strange events. If I didn't know any better, I'd say he knew something about my kid that I didn't.

I transfered the eggs into two plates, turning around and placing them on the table. Slow, dragging footsteps sounded from the hallway as a very tired looking Jake walked in. He rubbed the sleep from his eyes, still holding his Teddy in one arm. "Good morning." "Urhg." I chuckled lightly at his response, putting the plate on the table in front of him. Suddently, awareness seemed to return to his eyes and he began to devour his meal with an almost animalistic ravenousness. I didn't, not even once, think of telling him about what happened when I tried to wake him up.

After dropping him off to school, I headed off to work. "Morning Lee." "Hey Cat." Lee was a somewhat short Chinese man with rectangular glasses. He wasn't dressed neatly at all, but rather had a worn out monochrome brown t-shirt and grey jeans. "So, how's Jake doing?" "Oh, he's doing fine." "Any more of those "weird moments"?" Again with that... Why was he so curious? "Yes, actually...quite a few. It's getting more frequent." The man only nodded, as if I had confirmed what he already suspected. I only eyed him suspiciously.

This facination of his only started one day, when I took Jake to the park. Lee also happened to be there. It was the middle of summer, so Jake ran off to go play in the water games. As he turned and ran, I saw Lee's eyes widen. His eyes wouldn't leave him... At first I thought he may have had certain...improper intentions, but I knew very well this wasn't it. To me, Lee was as much of a mystery as Jake was.

The hours ticked by, and soon, my work was done and I had to go pick up Jake at school. "See you later Lee." "You too, Cat."

Upon arriving at the school, I noticed Jake, once again, apart from the other kids. There were a few kids who aproached him regularly, trying to make friends. Jake smiled at them, but I could tell he wasn't too sure. I parked the car. "Come on, time to go home!" He turned to me and ran, now smiling. As we drove, I once again felt something wasn't right. "Anything wrong, sweety?" He looked to me, his bright brown eyes looking a bit dull, but still shining with a certain satisfaction. "There was no weird moments today. But I do have a headache." I smiled too, but nodded somewhat sadly at the end of his sentence. I hoped this wouldn't turn into some kind of awful fever.

It did get worst...in ways I could never imagine. By nightfall, he was running a pretty bad fever. His temperature had always been about a degree lower than average, so for him to have a bad fever by average standards, it was really bad. I thought of bringing him to the hospital, but something in me told me that that was the last thing to do. "M-mom?" "Yes Jake?" I spoke softly. He answered in a strained voice. "My back...it's...b-burning. It hurts." He was on the edge of tears, his blonde hair messy and sticky with sweat. I sat by his side in worry, carefully slipping his shirt off to inspect for anything. I was surprised by what I found.

Ever since I had adopted him, I had noticed his unusual and perfectly simetrical birthmarks he had on his back. I assumed they were normal, although a bit strange. This, was clearly not normal. They had turned dark brown and were swollen slightly. I gently brushed my finger against one of them and I heard him hiss in pain. I didn't know what to do. "Uhm...lay down here. I'll go get you a glass of water and some pain medicine."

I shut the door and walked over to the bathroom, taking a few pills from the cabinet. As I poured his glass of water, I thought back to this. Instantly, I was reminded of my thinking pattern I had earlier. Lee. That day at the park...was it the birthmarks? Did my son have some kind of...infectious disease? Was this what killed his parents? My heart sank. This child was not my own, but he was my real family. I couldn't lose him. I was about to walk back, but a cry made me drop the glass on the ground, shattering it and sending shards and water flying everywhere. **"MOOOMMYYYY!"**

I ran back to the room and stopped dead in my tracks at what I saw. I shakily reached into my pocket for my phone, dialing what I now thought was the only number that could help, or do anything about this. "Catherine? Why on Earth are you calling at this hour?" "Lee, get over here. NOW." "Cat?.." I hung up. I carelessly let the phone slip from my grasp and clatter on the ground. I didn't care if I may have broken it. I walked over to my son, still under shock but filled with infinite concern, my eyes never leaving his back...more specifically, the black tentacle like things that were sticking out of it.

**AN: Yeah people who read Sakura's Journey might have seen this coming a mile away...The two fics do happen in the same univers, which means they have the same kind of Slenderfolk. You'll find out more later. Or like..in several days... Hope you enjoy!**


	3. Chapter 3

**Family not by Blood. Chapter 3 Flashbacks**

_On a hot summer day, a woman aproached one of the simple houses that lined the road. All these homes looked the same, with sickly yellow walls and navy roofs. She had curled sandy blonde hair and dull grey eyes. Her short stature and loose shirt made her look probably heavier than she actually was. In her handbag, she carried a small dose of sleeping pills and a box of matches. _

_Today, she was off to visit her dear sister's husband to help baby-sit their four year old son. The boy had the flu, which he unfortunately passed to his father and the mom was out working. She smirked darkly as she rang the doorbell._

I sat on the small bed, running my fingers through Jake's hair. His breath was coming out in short and sharp gasps and his eyes were filled with tears, red and puffy. I reached my hand down, lower, letting my fingertips touch the base of one of those things that had randomly sprouted from my adopted child's back. He whined softly as I did so. With a voice that was hoarse from crying, he asked me shakily. "W-what's happening to me, mommy?" I never wanted to see that much pain in my child's eyes. I just shrugged and shook my head lightly, my mouth opened and at a loss for words. "I...I don't know. Lee's coming over. He might be able to tell us something." Jake whispered again. "Lee?..." His voice was so weak. "Yes."

I lightly kissed his forehead and he fell asleep. I moved a bit, laying his head on the pillow and placing his teddy in his arms. He instinctively hugged it tight, frowning slightly. I had the wits to not try to put his blankets on him. Whatever had happened to him, it had caused him more pain than I think I could imagine. As I stared on helplessly, I only thought to those situations that happen in books and movies all the time. The kid turns into this monster or creature and the parents don't recognise him and start trying to kill him. That's all lies. When it's the child you raised, he could be turned inside-out and painted blue, you will know it's him when he's crying in pain at your feet.

I quietly left the room and closed the door, making my way back to the kitchen to pick up the water and shards of broken glass. As I tossed the pieces in the trash, wiping the sweat from my brow, the doorbell rang. I made my way to the front door, not bothering with anything and just hitting the button to unlock the front door. The Chinese man walked in, wincing a little when he saw the state I was in. _Ha. I wonder how he'd react if he saw Jake right now. _I felt tears threatening to spill from my eyes. We only stared at each other for a bit, he then spoke in a nervous way, looking to the floor. "Something happened to Jake, am I correct?" I snarled, but contained my anger. The man had done nothing wrong. "You knew something would happen to him, didn't you?" "I knew ever since I saw his tendrill marks that day in the park." "His...what?"

His birthmarks...Jake's birthmarks. I was right, that was what had gotten Lee facinated. Were they really the source of some kind of infectious disease? I didn't want to lose him...I couldn't. My friend must have seen my fright, as he spoke again. "I would have told you sooner, but I knew you wouldn't have believed me." I nodded and turned, walking back towards my son's room. I motioned for the man to follow me. Opening the door a bit, I invited him to peek inside. I sneered when I noticed that it was far more awe that was present in his features than worry. I saw the movements of his slanted eyes, taking mental notes at every detail of these "tendrills". My eyes did widen in shock though, when I heard him say an odd phrase, intended only for himself. "I only ever saw them dead." "What? What do you mean, dead?!" The man looked up to me, showing so much regret.

We walked back to the living room. "Cat, I think I should tell you about my previous job." I sat down in a seat across from him, impatient to hear this. He sighed, looking back down to the floor. "It's not really something I like to think about. You see, I worked for a secret government branch called Shadow Blood. It was started by two brothers, Eric and Allan, who were convinced they saw slenderfolk fighting when they were young." I interrupted him. "Slenderfolk?" He nodded, not taking his eyes from the floor. "They're...well...we don't really know that much. They're human like beings, shapeshifters. They look human at times, then grow to have the power to change to an other form. They become about two feet taller than they normally are, white skinned and lose nearly all facial features. They have so many unusual abilities that we simply can't explain." I was starting to catch on to things. "So...Jake is one of these...slenderfolk?" Lee nodded. "Correct. He's reached the age where young slenders grow their tendrills. Don't worry, they're not showing forever. We managed to determine that they gain the ability to retract them over time, maybe about a week's time. Later on, they gain the power to change to their alternate selves, which Jake will eventually."

I gulped. This wasn't over. I know I had wished for excitement the other day, but this was way beyond what I meant. I suppose my subconcious was right. Be careful what you wish for. I brought my attention back to Lee, who had resumed talking. "So...Shadow Blood was dedicated to researching slenderfolk. But the way they did it... they captured children. The children of the slenders. They'd take them right after they had started showing physical changes, that way they were sure they had a slender. We know slenders interbreed with humans, and their children are not always slenders because of that. Also, the children can't use their kind's unique ability to teleport. We have figured out that they need their parents to teach them that."

I felt a pang of sadness from this all, but especially for Jake when I heard that last statement. So there were things he could never do, simply because his real parents were dead? What if he encountered members of his kind one day? Would they mock him for being incomplete in a way? As I realized what I was thinking, I was shocked by how easily I accpeted all this. I looked back up to Lee again, motioning for him to go on.

"The thing with Shadow Blood was... they killed...the kids over time." My heart sank. "I...I was one of the researchers...for the way their bodies functioned. I...I saw so many dead children. They convinced us to do it by a simple sentence. They would tell us: "These things are monsters. They are not human." That was no excuse...and it took me so long to realize that, and it was only thanks to the sacrifice of a friend." I wanted to get up and go hug him, he had been through so much that I had never known, but I sat and let him go on.

"I had a friend, named Francis. He was the two organization leaders' step brother. He didn't have as much of a glorious position as they did, because he didn't have the same ideals. He made friends with the kids. One day, I found out that his mother had been a slender. He was born human, thankfully, but that didn't stop him from finding an early end. He broke some kids out of the facility. They were never found. So...he was to be...punished in the way our organization did. He was to be killed." I set asside all manners and did stand up to hug my closest friend. "I'm so sorry." I felt him nod. I sat back down, eager to hear the rest.

"After that, I went to see the bosses to quit. Normally, the procedure involved with quitting Shadow Blood includes death...But I pleaded with Eric, the younger of the two brothers. He let me leave my job without having my blood spilt. I came here, to work as a librarian. Something quiet and far away from them. That day we met, I had quit my job only three days before. I didn't think that it would get me mixed up into more slenderfolk things..." I nodded. "Well...I guess this turned out for the better...for him, I mean. Jake. I'm not one of these slenderfolk. You know a lot more than I do."

We both nearly jumped out of our skins when we heard a slight whisper from the back room. "Mom?... My head hurts." I then remembered what I had been doing before I saw Jake like that. I got up and went to get a new glass of water, picking up the pills from the counter. I entered the room and brought it to him. He tried to sit up, but it was obviously hurting him. "Here, this will help." I handed him the pills to take and held the glass of water to his mouth so he could drink. After he was done, he laid back down. "Mom, what are you going to do to me?" I blinked. "What do you mean?" "I'm not normal, am I? What's going to happen?" I sighed and sat back down on the bed next to him, massaging his head gently. "I'll keep you safe, sweety. I promise." His brown eyes looked at me again, full of tears and clear signs of exhaustion. "What am I?" I smiled to him sadly. "You're a slender, Jake. And you are normal, just not...well...human."

He weakly nodded and drifted off to sleep instantly. I smiled sadly, staying by his side a few more minutes. When I left the room, I saw that Lee had put his coat and shoes back on and was about to leave. "Cat, I suggest you give him an ice-pack. I heard that the slenders we had that recently grew their tendrills would get some pretty insane fevers." I nodded and smiled. "Oh, and I'll tell the boss you're not coming in to work tomorrow." My smile widened. "Thanks Lee." And with that, he left. I looked over to the time. One in the morning? Really? I yawned, realizing how tired I really was. After giving my son an ice-pack, I went to my own room, flopping down on the bed. I also fell asleep pretty fast. So much happened in one little day...


	4. Chapter 4

**Family not by Blood Chapter 4 A New Day**

I woke-up to the sound of birds chirping outside. It looked to be sunnier than any day for the past few weeks. I rubbed the sleep from my eyes, feeling like I missed something. Last night...What an awful dream. It felt so real...was it really all just a dream? It had to be. That couldn't be real. My son couldn't be one of these...slenderfolk. Yes, a dream.

As I got up, I had to mentally fight that voice of conciousness that told me this wasn't a dream, that all of that really happened. The voice won when I stopped in front of Jake's room to hear soft weaping. I didn't need to open the door to know what I'd find... To know it was so much more than just a dream. I turned the doorknob, gently pushing the door open. Jake was sitting on his bed. His sand colored hair was a complete mess. In his hands, he clung to one of those inky black tendrills that had sprouted from his back. He stared at it in mute facination mixed with some horrible sense of fear. He occasionally would let out a chocked sob, a tear running down his flushed cheek.

"Jake?" He looked up to me, his eyes still swimming with tears. The eight year old returned his attention to his new limbs, only letting out a slight sound of aknowledgment. I walked over to his bed and sat next to him. "I'm guessing you're feeling better now than you did last night." He only nodded, not taking his eyes off the tendrill he was holding. Still limp and lifeless looking, three more tendrills were also extended from his back. The patches of skin where the limbs met his flesh were black, veering off to a very dark brown before fadding out to the normal peachy color of his skin.

I looked back to his face. "Do they still hurt?" He shook his head. "Not really...it just feels really really weird." I nodded and raised up a single hand. "Can I...I mean..." He moved his left hand back, taking hold of an other one of them and brought it over to my hand. He didn't even look up to me, not even once. "I...thank you." As I observed the strange thing, the whole air felt very tense, like a veil of static was burning through, sending waves of anxiety around. At least now I knew where this came from. He was waiting for me to judge him.

I carefully observed this tendrill, taking in every little detail. It's color wasn't pure black, but more of a misty semi-transparent kind of color. It made me think of smoky quartz. They didn't look solid, but they were, in a way that seemed both warm and cool to the touch at once. There didn't appear to be any veins or anything inside of them. I was at a loss for words. I subconciously ran my thumb along it, looking to my right as I saw my son shiver from the contact. "You can feel with them?" He nodded. "Jake, please look at me." He slowly turned his head again, his brown eyes meeting my green ones.

I didn't only see the fear in his eyes, I literally felt it in the air. It rang in my ears ever so slightly. I'd tell him to stop, but I doubt he knew how. I doubt he even knew he was doing this. I don't think there were any words I could say to ease his worries, so I instead wrapped my arms around him and hugged him. I felt him quiver as he sobbed again. The static against my mind changed, now becoming more of a calm buzz. I gently rubbed his neck, his back now out of the question. After several long minutes, we released our embrace.

"I'll go make breakfast. How do you feel about some bacon and eggs?" He smiled brightly, the first smile I had seen on him since yesterday. "I'll take that as a yes." As I worked on the food, watching the bacon, I heard tiny and soft footsteps hitting the wooden floor, mixed in with some slight dragging sound, like when you'd trail a grabage bag behind you. I turned to see Jake standing in the doorway. He had his teddy in his left hand and held a blanket wrapped around him with his right. The blanket trailed behind him, the tips of his four tendrills visible at the end. I smiled to him and motioned for him to go sit at the table. He only managed to get himself into a comfortable position by the time everything was cooked.

He ate all of his bacon in only a matter of seconds, then started to pick at his eggs slowly. He looked up to me with those wide eyes of his, full of innocence. "Mommy, what am I going to do about school?" I smiled to him softly. "Lee was here last night, you might have heard us talking. He said that slenders learn to make their tentacles dissapear about a week after growing them." He smiled, looking reasured a bit, but then frowned again. "Mom, isn't the Slender a monster that takes away children?" I blinked and looked back in shock. "What?" "The Slenderman... on the internet. Am I a monster?"

I was dumbfounded. "Where...did you hear about this?" He looked up to me with his eyes full of worry. "The internet." I stroked his hair gently, smiling. I tried to give off as much of a calm sense as I could. I'm pretty sure he could feel it. "You're not a monster, and don't you ever think you are." He smiled and hugged me. When I sat at my own side of the table, he spoke again. "But the Slenderman is all white and tall and has no face... I don't look like that." That brought back a memory from last night. Something Lee had said. "Lee said...something about shapeshifters. Growing to have the power to change into an other form." He winced slightly, and I did too.

This was going to be hard. Neither of us knew what was going on really. To make it worst, I, who was supposed to be the responsible and protective adult, was scared out of my mind. But I couldn't let him know that... After breakfast was done, he got up and walked over to the living room to watch tv, his new tendrills dragging across the floor in an uncomfortable looking way. I went to my room and turned on the computer, typing in Slenderman into the search bar.

The results added even more fear to me. I nearly jumped out of my skin when the phone rang. "Hey Cat?" "Oh hi Lee. Uhm...About this whole Slender thing. Please tell me, is my son a flesh eating creature?" There was an odd chuckle on the end of the line. "Please don't look it up on the Internet. They're right about a few things, but wrong about so many others. No, Jake won't become a flesh eating creature. He will require more meat in his diet though." I nodded, even if I knew he couldn't see me. "Will you be coming over later?" "Sure. I guess I have to redeem myself for what I did in my past..."

After our phone call, it was about two in the afternoon. I left my room and headed over to the living room. I was met by the sound of soft snoring. Jake had fallen asleep. I picked up the blanket from the floor and went to drape it over him. I paused when I saw that two of his tentacles had coiled around him, holding his teddy against himself in the same way his arms did. I smiled and gently placed the blanket over him.

This would take some getting used to, but I knew I would adapt and things would be fine. After all, he was as new to this as I was.


	5. Chapter 5

**Family not by Blood. Chapter 5 A Slender's Aura**

Six in the afternoon. Jake was starting to wake-up from his nap. I know I shouldn't have let him sleep until this late, he probably won't go to bed tonight. But then again, he had been looking so sleepy since the incident. He yawned and stretched his arms, his tendrills uncoiling from him and falling back to their limp state. Their tips twitched slightly as he rubbed the sleep from his eyes. "Wha.. what time is it?" I smiled at his look of innocence. The four long and black limbs from his back, tangled in some kind of mess around him made him look...adorable. In a way I couldn't explain though... "It's six in the afternoon, sleepy head. How about chicken for supper?" He looked up, his eyes brightening and nodding his head vigorously.

Remembering Lee's words, I decided to have a more protein filled menu for the next few weeks. I was going to add carrots with the chicken, but I opted for brocoli instead. Something seemed to be missing... I pondered the cooking food for a bit before I looked up and snapped my fingers. I pulled out a bag of chips from the top shelf and opened it, pouring a small pile of crispy potato goodness in each of the three plates I had taken out. Jake started walking towards the kitchen, but he ended up smacking one of his tendrills in the door frame on the way in. He hissed, wincing slightly and the sound from the tv, which was still on, buzzed with static.

"Are you ok?" "Y-yeah...it's fine." He then looked up, tilting his head to the side in curiosity. "Three plates? Lee's coming over for diner?" I nodded. "That's right. He knows a lot more about this whole slender situation than I do. Besides, I was the only one who got to talk to him since you were asleep. Now you get to talk to him, if you have any questions." He nodded and pulled up a chair, trying to find a comfortable way to sit down. I giggled as I watched him squirm slightly, giving off a few sighs of frustration. A few more times, the television turned to static. His way of affecting technology by his sheer frustration at the simple task both amused me and somewhat frightened me. This eight year old boy was somehow affecting the way the electronics around him worked by the simple power of his mind and emotions.

The doorbell rang, right as the oven indicated that the chicken had done cooking. I silently praised my timing as I walked to answer the door. "Hey Cat. Wait a minute...is that chicken I smell?" "Hey Lee. Yup. You're just in time." My old friend sat at the table, in the seat that was at Jake's left. I sat at the other end, across from Jake. The two were having some kind of little staredown. Jake averted his eyes after about a minute, slowly starting to eat his food. Lee smirked and started eating as well.

"Your son's a natural, he can already try to sense people's auras." We both looked up to him in confusion. "Slenders are...keyed in on people's emotions, or auras. I never actually experienced the presence of one's mind against mine, but I've heard others talk about it." "Wait, I can read minds?" The little boy's voice was filled with excitement. Lee pondered the question for a bit before answering. "Not exactly...not that we could tell... only emotions. You can make your emotions felt by others too. You're doing it now..."

Jake's eyes widened and he looked around. "I...am?" It was true that there was a certain electric feeling to the air. It gave off a sense of...wonder and curiosity, but held a certain hidden presence of fear. I ate in silence, watching the two boys speak. I looked back up when I saw that Jake had gotten up and slowly turned, showing his bare back and black tendrills to Lee. "How long do I have to be stuck with these?" The Chinese man reached out his hand, slowly, not quite daring to touch one. He drew his hand back, observing every detail. "It usually takes about a week... some three days, others seven. It depends on how fast your body gets used to them and how fast you learn to control them." The young boy nodded and went back to sit down, sighing in more frustration. He found a comfortable position faster this time, but still after a good minute. It was enough for me and Lee to chuckle slightly and to recieve a death glare from the little slender.

Jake turned his attention back to Lee, his brown eyes filled with a profound childish innocence and a desire to understand the world. "But...after I can control them, what else?" I think Lee understood what he meant. He smiled sadly. "It's something we could never really figure out, but usually, within the first week after the growth of tendrills, a slender will change into it's other form." Jake looked down to his hands in wonder, the static in the air buzzing slightly with a sense of fear. Lee spoke up again. "It's not really painful. If it is, it's nothing compared to the growth of tendrills... I still don't know that much though." Jake only nodded and smiled up to Lee, as if forgiving him for not knowing what he wished to know.

They spoke a lot more, talking about things I could no longer keep up with. I decided to go wash the dishes and let them talk. It was fun seeing my little kid and my closest friend getting along so well. I sighed as I thought of it all. Soon, it was nine o'clock. "Mommy, can Lee read my bedtime story?" His pleading look was one hard to resist, with a few strands of his blonde hair covering his large brown eyes. Even the tips of his tendrills had curled slightly around his feet. He hugged his teddy to his bare chest. I smirked. "Sure! Why not?"

And Lee started telling him old Chinese tales. Jake had fallen asleep pretty quickly. The air within Jake's room raidated a certain sense of warmth in the form of that ever buzzing static. I guided Lee to the front door. "Hey thanks for coming over. The kid really adores you." The man smiled, adjusting his glasses. He walked away and left.

As I passed in front of Jake's room again, that static reached me. It felt so soothing, I wanted to just walk into his room and go to sleep right on the carpet. I shook the idea from my head, smirking slightly and kept walking. I took a shower and then headed to bed. As I passed in front of my son's room one more time, I heard him mumbling lightly in his sleep. I peeked in to see him hugging his teddy, his tendrills twitching from time to time. I smiled. No matter how weird this was, this was the boy I had raised. This was my son, and I loved him.

I went to my room, switched off the lights and went to sleep. Jake's aura carried over to my room.


	6. Chapter 6

**Family not by Blood. Chapter 6 Vivian?**

We were well off into the third day of me finding out my adopted son was really a supernatural being. He was napping right now. He had been napping a lot since he had sprouted his tendrills. By now, he could lift them off the ground, which made him seem much happier and he was certainly much more mobile. When he was awake, he had resumed playing with his toys, running around in the small apartment. But for now, it was only his peaceful sleep and soft snoring, occasionally, spikes of his aura if he was having a good dream.

The door bell rang and I paused in my current task of washing the counter. I wasn't expecting any visit today... I went to the front window and looked down to the street below. Out there, there was an old looking yellow car I had never seen before. I frowned and went towards the door. I clicked on the intercom. "Hello? Who is this?" A sweet and feminine voice rang in through the speaker. "Oh my, are you Catherine Simpson?" I paused a bit. "Yes...and you are?" "My name is Vivian. Vivian Marcel. I heard that my long lost nephew was here. His name is Jake?" I paused. I didn't know what to say.

But...when I had adopted Jake, they said he had no family left...what if this woman tried to take him away from me? Where had she been for the past four years? Still, against my better judgement, I clicked the button to unlock the front door and eventually let her in. Vivian was a somewhat short woman. She had old and worn looking baggy clothes. Her hair was sandy blonde and she had dull grey eyes that seemed to shine with a trace of malice. I didn't trust her right away. Something just wasn't...right.

"Hello! I'm so glad I finally found you! It's been nearly four years since I found out my dear nephew was orphaned. I was told, of course, he had been taken in, but they never gave me your adress." "You spent...four years looking for me?" Now I was unnerved. "No no, dear. For him. Where is he anyway?" I froze. His tendrills... This woman, although it was possible for her to be a slender, could also be a human, and one who didn't know about her nephew's condition. I decided against telling her anything. "He's sleeping right now. He's sick." This seemed to interest her. She raised a brow. "Sick?...sick with what?" I had to think fast. "He has the flu. He shouldn't see anyone right now. Thank you anyway." The woman looked at me with a sceptical eye, her eerie stare chilling me to the bone.

"Uhm...why don't you tell me a little more about his old family? I haven't heard anything. He doesn't even remember his dad." This also seemed to peek at her interest. "He...doesn't remember his father?" "No." She seemed to be pondering this. She continued to speak though, as if nothing happened. "His mother, my dearest younger sister, was an amazing person. She was brilliant and kind hearted. Her husband, though..." Her eyes filled with a sense of hatred that genuinely scared me. "He was a bad man. There was just something wrong with him, I know there was! When my sister died...I swear it has something to do with that man. I tried to save her. She never listened to me!"

The older woman was fidgeting, her fingers twitching as though she was resisting the urge to strangle someone. Her display of agression frightened me. "I...I'm sorry to hear about your loss. It must have been very dramatic for you." She only nodded. "Huh." Her demeanor was back to the way it was when she first walked in. I decided to be polite and kind to her. The woman was obviously troubled. "Would you like a glass of orange juice before you go?" She looked up to me, seemingly pondering things in her head. She then nodded.

I poured her a drink, handed it to her and watched her drink it all quickly. She roughly placed the glass on the counter, walking out without even saying goodbye. I went to the window, a brow still raised as I watched her speed away in her car. Vivian... She wasn't all there in her head and I knew it just by looking at her.

_A boy cowered under his blanket. He was awake, but he made not a single sound. He could feel Her presence... He did not know what it meant, but he knew that it was a bad presence. He was ever thankful that the one person he came to know as real family had the sense to send Her away. The presence, that aura, Her aura... It brought back a memory from his past. One of the furthest he could find... it was on that day. The day that would forever be marked to him by fire, death and...something else. Or someone else._

_All he remembered was sitting in the kitchen, on the ground. He did not know why he was there or how long he had been there. there was only a slight ring in his ears, one that was fadding away quickly. When his mind came back to focus, the first thing he realized was that it was hot. VERY hot. He looked around to see small flames dancing on the opposing wall of the kitchen. At first he froze, but then something else caught his attention. It...looked to be a person. A man was lying down on the kitchen floor. A tall, tall faceless man. He was terrified by this man right away. He was then even more scared when he noticed that the thing, or person, had multiple black tentacles extending from it's back. Most of them were limp, a few clutching one of his legs which, appeared to be bent at an odd angle. And there was a single one, which was actually raised and lightly touching the boy's forehead. _

_He backed away, looking terrified. The creature in front of him was observing him. He's not sure how he knew, seeing as it had no eyes. It then nodded, seemingly satisfied. The raised tendrill went back towards the boy, pushing him backwards slightly. The thing then openned a mouth full of sharp fangs, crying out in a thunderous voice. "GET OUT, NOW!" The shout was so powerful, it also reverberated in his mind, reaching him at the core of his soul and causing his ears to ring slightly and static to blur his mind._

_The boy didn't give a second thought. He ran. He ran outside as fast as he could. Only when he was outside, did he think back that the strange faceless man would most likely burn in the fire._

I heard soft weaping coming from Jake's room. I paused and opened his door. "Jake? Are you ok?" He was crying softly, holding his teddy against him in his arms, one tendrill wrapped around it too. His other three were twirling lightly in the air in nervousness. "I...I had a bad memory...It was a-about...it was about the f-fire." He started to shake with sobs, crying once again. I ran over to him and slowly started to massage his back, right above his tendrills. I gently rubbed his spine in between the inky appendages, smiling lightly when I saw them shiver, his breathing slowing down. He turned and hugged me.

I stiffened as I felt that warm but cool feeling of those tentacles slowly wrap around me too. I took a breath and hugged him back. I was still getting used to this, but it's ok because he was too. I then thought a bit. I knew this might not have been the best thing to ask about, but I wanted to know. "The...the fire? Is that how your parents died? A fire?" He looked up to me, tears filling his brown eyes. I had raised him for four years and never, not even once, did I ask about how he lost his family.

He nodded and burried his face in my neck to cry again. I patted his back gently, sighing. I felt the slightest buzz of static at the edge of my mind. He was seeking comfort from me. I breath in and thought of the calmest things I could. His crying stopped. The tendrills unwound from my waist. He turned to sit down on his bed again, staring off into the far corners of his room. I smiled sadly and stood up. "How does ice cream sound?" He suddently smiled again. "I'll take that as a yes." As I walked out of the room and towards the kitchen, I couldn't help but think things over. This...Vivian. She blamed her sister's husband for the deaths. I'm guessing the father was the one who gave Jake his inhuman characteristics. Was he really responsible?


	7. Chapter 7

**Family not by Blood Chapter 7 We Have to Go**

I had told Lee about Vivian's visit, which was two days ago. "That...name sounds familiar." That's all he had said. I shrugged it off. A lot of people called Vivian out there. Over the past two days, Jake had gotten to the point where he could retract his tendrills. Finally, we no longer had to wait five minutes before meals for him to find a comfy place to sit. I did, however, take notice that he extended them to wrap himself in them when he went to sleep.

The boy spent a lot of time on his computer. He had downloaded old games from a series entitled "Slender". They were based off the myth that had been based off his species. He also did a lot of research, trying to experiment with what he could and couldn't do. He looked upon that day announced by Lee, the day he would change to a tall and faceless appearence, with anticipation. I looked upon it with fear. I will not lie, there was a terror in me from the fact that my son, the child I raised, was rapidly becoming an unknown creature, one capable of shape-shifting, mind reading, mental assaults and bearing tentacles. I wouldn't tell him though. I simply couldn't. At the core, he was still my son and I loved him more than anything.

Jake wasn't quite ready to go back to school and I didn't trust a baby-sitter, so I was still home. I could hear the clicking of the keyboard to the laptop that was in Jake's room. I was slowly putting away dishes when I heard the phone ring. "Hello?" "Hey, Cat?" "Lee? What's up?" There was a pause on the line that made me worry. He took a deep breath. "I did a little research here... I have a little story to tell you."

I sat down on a chair at the table, waiting for him to speak. "Four years ago, there was a large fire in a small neighborhood on the far corner of town. Two people died. One kid, four years old, was left orphaned." My eyes widened. "That's...Jake." I could hear the rustle on the line and I assumed he was nodding. "Witnesses on the scene claim the kid came running out of the house and towards his mother, who was just coming back from work. He was crying and mumbling senselessly. At some point, the woman screamed, clutching her head...she ran past the firemen for some unexplained reason and charged into the burning house. She was found dead, next to her husband."

I brought a hand up to my mouth, my eyes on the edge of tears. It must be such an awful way to die... then I thought of Jake, as there were no doubts it was him. This woman...abandoned her son to run back into the burning house. One more thing was left to spin back into my mind. It was what Vivian had said. She blamed the father for the death of her sister... I stopped my train of thoughts when Lee resumed talking.

"And you know that woman you spoke to, Vivian? She was on the scene when it happened, holding onto the kid when the mom ran back inside. Nobody knows why she was there. She lived across town. When they found matches in the house, they began to call this, not an accident, but murder. She was the prime suspect. She never confessed, but never denied either. She kept saying she tried to save her sister from a monster... She was sent in a ward for a few years. Catherine, be careful if you see her again...I'm worried for both you and Jake."

I nodded, knowing he couldn't see me. I was still trying to take in all this information. I knew that woman was bad news as soon as I saw her. I looked in the direction of Jake's room. Just then, the doorbell rang, making me send the phone to the ground. I went to the window...it was her. She was here again.

I kept my calm. She showed no hostility towards me last time. "Hello again." "Heeey! Is little Jake feeling any better today?" I heard tiny footsteps from the hallway and turned to see the young blonde boy. His brown eyes shone with a deep sense of primal fear as he scanned the woman. "You're my aunt Vivian." He said it as a flat fact. The grey-eyed woman gasped, looking emotional. "My you've grown so much!" She tried to aproach Jake, he took a step back. Her smile fadded, replaced by an angry semi-glare. She observed the boy from head to toe. "You have your_ father's eyes_. That same _presence_ in the air he had too. I'm guessing you inherited _many things_ from him." She spoke some words with a feeling of pure venom. It made both me and Jake shudder.

She didn't stay long, only looked at him a bit. She then nodded, as though her suspicions had been proven. Pulling a picture book on reptiles and amphibians, she handed it to the boy with an almost roughness. "I got this for you. You always liked these when you were small." Jake eyed the book wearily, then slowly smiled to her. I could tell he was only doing it to be polite. The woman then turned and left.

As soon as she was gone, I ran past Jake and picked up the phone from the kitchen floor. I dialed as fast as I could. After telling Lee what had just happened, he responded with only one sentence. "You have to leave." I looked around the small house, my eyes landing on Jake who stood in the doorway. I could hear a barely noticible crackle of static from in the phone. An other look at Jake made me see his eyes full of confusion and worry. I turned my attention back to Lee.

"But where will we go? And why?" There was a sigh, as though the answer was obvious. "Vivian knows where you are and knows what Jake is. If she did do that to Jake's father because he was a slender, as I suspect she did, she WILL try to do the same to her nephew. It doesn't matter where you go, so long as it's not here." I felt the static intensify. Jake tensed up, his black tendrills slowly stretching out from behind his back to curl around him in a type of hug. I sighed and responded. "Thanks Lee... I...we'll try to find a new place to stay." "You can come to my place for a while." I looked up. The ring of static from the phone slightly changed tone, as if it was asking a question. "Thank you..." That's all I could answer. "No problem. Oh, and Jake, I can hear that. I know you're listening." Lee hung up.

Jake seemed to be lost in thought, he then smiled and spoke with a pure sense of pride, his tendrills slowly uncurling from around him to waver in the air. "I just...listened in to your phone call...WITH MY MIND!" I hadn't seen him so proud of himself, ever. I ruffled his hair slightly. "Lucky kid, you got super powers." He giggled slightly. I looked around the house again, sighing once more. "We have to go..." Jake's smile slowly fadded. He nodded and hugged me. I had gotten used to the young slender's hugs. The tendrills now provided me with a sense of peace and serenity. We had to go...

**AN: Hello people. It feels like it's been forever since I last wrote! Omg... So anyway, I thought I saw my old friend in the hallway at school last Friday, but he's supposed to have changed schools and Idk if he was really there or if I just imagined it...I heard people mentioning his name and now I'm sorta freaking out on the inside in my head ;-; So I might not be all there when I write these... I'll do my best. I hope you all enjoyed this chapter and keep on waiting for the next one! This is when the action is gonna start for real.**


	8. Chapter 8

**Family not by Blood Chapter 8 Prepared**

Lee's house wasn't exactly big and high quality. It was an apartment, but lower in quality than the one I had. Jake was busy exploring every corner of the small place, which consisted of one bedroom, a bathroom, and a kitchen. The kitchen was large, the counter and appliances only taking up one wall of it. The rest was used as a sort of living room. It was on the first floor of the building, and the front window showed a lovely view of the neighbors from across the street's yard. They had crooked branched trees with dark wine colored leaves and a dark, nearly black, red bark. I'd have to find out what kind of trees they were some other time...

As Lee helped me set Jake's matress on the ground next to the couch, I turned my attention to the little boy. He had his four tendrills out and was using them to support his little body off the ground in a spider like way. His head was leaning forward, nearly touching the wall, his blonde hair hiding his eyes. He had a single hand pressed against the wall. If I hadn't known and raised this child, I would have been scared. Lee paused and looked at him strangely. "Jake?...What are you doing?" He backed up and let his feet touch the ground once more, only shrugging.

"I don't know...this place feels...special. It makes me feel connected to it. It's like there's this energy in it." I raised a brow. I don't think I'll ever fully understand slenderfolk. I don't think anyone can... Do they even understand themselves? But it is true that the place echoed with a sort of faint energy, like a distant half-fadded memory.

I turned back to Lee as we resumed setting up everything. "So, do you think we're safe here?" "I'm not sure...she tracked you down before, she very well could now." I gulped a bit, suddently realizing one little detail. "And this time...you're involved." The Chinese man sneered slightly, nodding. "I know. I think I have to do this, though. Save a single life to make up for all the others I helped extinguish." I lowered my head. I can't imagine what it would feel like, to live knowing you ended a life. Especially a child's life.

We then both turned around when we heard a rather loud crash. Jake was laying flat on the ground, his tendrills out and two of them twitching slightly under his weight. He slowly sat up, rubbing his head. I rushed to his side. "What happened?" He blinked a bit, as if trying to get his mind back into focus. His look of confusion and pain then turned to a dumb smile. "Uh...I tried to walk..." He looked down in shame, raising his four tendrills slightly. I understood what he meant and put a hand up to my mouth, unable to keep back some laughter.

"He's gonna need some kind of help if he wants to control his powers." I turned to Lee as he said this. I then looked back to Jake again. The boy was intently staring at his tendrills, retracting one of them and then extending it again. His small frown gave him a look of pure determination and focus. It made me smile a bit. Despite all these new strange and supernatural aspects, he still had that pure innocence and curiosity that makes children so adorable. And he certainly was adorable. I sighed.

"I suppose you're right, but where would we find help?" Lee then smiled a mischivious smile. "I did a little research. Could you believe that in the run down and polluted east side of town, there's a rumor about the real Slenderman living in the woods?" I looked up to him in surprise. The images and words from that one night of internet research came back to me. "Isn't the real Slenderman a flesh eating creature?" Lee was lost in thought. "We haven't really encountered a slender that was actually a killer or a man eater before... and besides, this is the only lead we have. They're not a population that's easy to keep track of. We should take a chance. I don't think a slender, which are pretty lonely and scarce creatures, would attack an other one of it's kind that just happens to be walking by. If anything, a slender might be overjoyed to find a member of it's kind."

I pondered this. Lee was the researcher here. He was the scientist, government agent and slender expert. I decided to trust him. "So...we have to find this other slender? When?" Lee thought again. "I'd say after he learns to change to his other form." At the mention of this, the air filled with a light static and Jake looked up. There was a spark of excitement in his eyes.

That night, Jake fell asleep very fast and was snoring peacefully. On the other hand, I was pretty much wide awake most of the night. The couch was comfortable, the temperature good, the pillow nice and plush, the blankets warm, no...the problem was my own thoughts. I couldn't stop thinking this all over and over. How my life as a normal mother had turned into this. One day, I was casually picking my son up from school, the next, he grows tentacles in the dead of night. If that weren't enough, an insane lost relative turns up again and could be a very real danger. And just to add to that, my son is scheduled to completly transform into a tall and faceless being within the next week or so.

I looked back down to the matress next to me. His little form was sleeping peacefully. His placid snoring, ruffling a single strand of his hair slightly just made me want to hug him, bring him close to me and keep him by my side forever. Despite the fact that he had those dark tendrills of his around him, looking long enough would let you see they helped him hold his teddy close to his heart, and the ends of them twitched lightly to go along with whatever he was dreaming of right now. I suddently began to hate myself for thinking any wrongly of him. Jake was a wonderful child and going through all this mess was very much worth it if it meant he would be safe.

I reached out with my hand, gently caressing the tendrill that was closest to me. I smiled when I saw him shiver and hug his teddy closer, burying his face in the soft material. I laid back down and fell asleep almost instantly.

**AN: Sorry I haven't updated in a while. I lost internet connection for a day and then the next day, I kinda was really tired and stuff...ANYWAY, HAPPY HALLOWEEN! Cuz it is Halloween when I am writing this. A lot of you may know that Halloween is among my favorite holidays. I mean seriously, you get to dress up in insane suits and look however you want to, you get to stay up late, you get to go outside at night, and most importantly, YOU GET TO TAKE CANDY FROM STRANGERS! Definetly a fun time. It's that time of the year where you can look like a total nutjob and everyone is gonna think you're awesome rather than judging you. Rant asside, here's a new chapter. Thank you for reading!**


	9. Chapter 9

**Family not by Blood Chapter 9 Run Away**

Fast forward to five days later and things were pretty good for us. Lee was a pretty good host, but not that much of a good cook. I did most of the cooking in the house. Jake still went to school, and was still getting pretty good grades. It was a nice Saturday morning and I went outside to get a breath of fresh air. As I headed back inside, I froze when I caught sight of something I hadn't seen before. There was a note taped to the front door. It was a poorly scrawled writing that chilled me. "Can't run." At the bottom of the page, there was an unreadable signature, ended with a little heart. I tore it off the door and went back inside, locking it and checking twice.

I was about to inform Lee of this news, but he spoke first. "Cat, we might have a situation here. Jake's starting to feel weird, and I think he might be getting closer to his transformation." I paused, my mouth hanging open slightly. Behind Lee stood a pale and shaky Jake, his eyes holding a mix of anticipation and...an appology? I suppose he could sense my stress about this whole thing. I walked over and hugged him, kissing the top of his head. When I pulled away from the hug, I turned back to Lee and stuffed the sheet of paper in his hand.

"That's not our only situation, look at what I found!" He scanned the page intently and then looked back to me. "You think it's from Vivian?" I only looked down to my feet and nodded. "Who else?" Lee contemplated this. I could feel the light vibration of static that came from Jake, sending a feeling of worry and curiosity through the whole room. "Pack up. We're going." There was a tiny ring in my ears and I turned to Jake. His face was full of worry and confusion.

"Going where, mom?" I turned to Lee who only gave me a sorrowful look. I was struggling for words. "I...Away from here. We have to keep you safe." His eyes widened a bit. It looked like he was going to speak, but he then closed his eyes and ground his teeth, shivering and paling slightly. His colors returned to normal and he reopened his eyes, now giving me a determined look. "I'm a slender, mom. I'll keep us safe."

His bravery made me smile, nearly cry even. I hugged him once more. About an hour later and we were all in the rather large car, driving around. We parked by an old empty lot. "We'll just stay in here until we find a better place...I'm sorry." I put a hand on Lee's shoulder. "Why are you sorry? It's Vivian's fault." He sighed and leaned against the window. We got out of the car and sat at a picnic table, getting some food to eat. The setting sun colored the whole landscape in shades of orange, brown and yellow. It had been so long since we enjoyed some time out doors.

Twice more, Jake shuddered and paled. His chewing was slow and he stopped eating right in the middle of the meal. "I'm not very hungry..." He looked downwards, rubbing his arms. Lee observed him a bit. "It's for tonight..." We both looked at him. Jake extended his tendrills and wrapped himself in them. So...my son was to turn into a faceless creature...and tonight. I had known this moment would be coming from the first night he had grown his tentacles, but it still filled me with an unspoken fright and fear of the unknown. What would happen? I looked at him a bit longer before I noticed the playground over the hill. "Hey, Jake? Wanna go play a bit before we go?" His eyes, mood and aura brightened up as he vigorously shook his head. We raced over to the swing set, playing until the sun went down.

We went back to the car, packing everything up and about to drive over to a hotel. That was when Jake cried out, doubling over and turned white as a sheet. Lee turned around and quickly pulled the car up into an alley. "Undo his seat belt!" I did as I was told. Jake had his tendrills extended and coiled around him. He was shaking violently. I looked on, my jaw hanging open. "N-now?!" Jake turned his face towards me. I could tell he tried to open his eye to look at me because of the twitching of his eyelid, but failed at doing so. I felt so helpless. There was nothing I could do to lessen his obvious discomfort other than pull him slightly towards me so he had more room.

I had known this moment was to come, but it still was such a shock to me. Tonight was the night I had to sit in a car and watch the child I raised transform into this tall and faceless creature of legends. His hair seemed to gradually receed within his deathly pale skin, his tightly shut eyelids slowly dissipating within the rest of his skin. I began stroking his bald head while humming gently as I could only watch the rest of the changes unfold. His arms and legs lenghtened, any hair on his body fadding away. Finally, I watched with wide eyes as four more tendrills sprouted from his back and hung limply on the car seat. I hadn't realized I had actually gotten out of my seat at the front of the car and was halfway sprawled out towards him at the back until now.

His breathing was shaky and harsh. I undid my seatbelt, got out of the car and re-entered on the seat across from him at the back. Once again, I began humming and stroking his pale head. His fine nose twitched and I felt his now much longer fingers cling to the fabric of my pants. He moved, tilting his head upwards. If he still had his eyes, he would have been looking right at me. "M-mom?..." His voice was raspy, barelly a whisper. I tried my best to smile. "Yeah, I'm here for you. Don't worry." His mouth hung open slightly and I shuddered when I caught sight of what had happened to his teeth. They all had a slightly serated edge, but his canines had morphed into true genuine fangs.

I blinked when I heard his voice rise up, stronger than before. "You're...all fuzzy. Everything...is blurry." I wanted to tell him "that's because you have no eyes, silly", but words escaped me. I just hugged him closer smiling and feeling a tear go down my cheek. It dripped off my chin and landed on his cheek. He slowly and hesitantly lifted his shaky arm and went to wipe the tear off his face. God his arms were long... Longer than mine by far. "Why are you crying?" His voice was full of worry. In fact, the whole air within the car burned with that sense of worry. I stroked his cheek again. "I just don't like it when you seem sick or hurt."

His features then turned into what I can only guess is a determined look. He tried to lift himself up on his elbows but was shaking too much. "I'm not...s-sick or hurt. I...I feel just fine!" I smiled again. He was stubborn as always. He sort of managed to sit up, placing his head in the palm of his hand. He rubbed the spots where his eyes were only minutes ago. I smiled sadly at this thought. He then looked around as if in awe. I must say, I was in awe too. Not only because of his sudden change in appearence, but mainly because of his change in height. He had to be as tall as I was now, most likely even taller.

I jumped back when Lee spoke up. I had forgoten about him... The Chinese man had a look of pure awe on his face. "You can see? What...what is your vision like?" Jake tilted his head slightly to the side, hugging himself and resting back in his seat. He was slouching. I'm guessing he was trying to make himself seem as little as possible, uncomfortable with his new height. He looked around a bit, then focused on his mass of tendrills that extended from his back and went over the edge of the seat. "Everything's...greyish...and fuzzy... But brighter too. Like over there, that old box of cereal behind that dumpster. I couldn't see it before." I looked over where his face was tilted, at the side of the dumpster. All I could see was the dumpster's pure black shadow. It was hard to even see the dumpster it's self! Lee also seemed in awe at Jake's new vision.

Tonight, we spent the night in the car. I had a pillow pressed against the window, Jake resting his head on my stomach. He still had his teddy close to him, though now it was harder to wrap his much longer arm around it. He had managed to move all eight of his tendrills, the usual four hugging him. I couldn't really see the others because of the blanket, but I could vaguely see the end of two. My eyes then widened and I looked down at my wrist as I felt that strange sensation on it. An other one of his tendrills had curled it's self around there. I smiled lightly and stroked his bare head.

Lee had fallen asleep about an hour ago. Jake even before that. The boy was just obviously exhausted. With his new height, I realized it was kind of hard to call him "boy". If I only saw him now, if I hadn't freaked out of course, I would have probably guessed his age to be around sixteen or seventeen years old...not eight! I shut my eyes again, leaning into my pillow in an attempt to find rest. Every single time I thought my position wasn't very comfortable, I thought of how Jake must be feeling right now. He just grew by two feet, had a mass of tentacles sticking out of his back and had to cram all that into this tiny little car seat, which I was also sitting on.

As I started drifting to sleep, I gave thoughts to tomorrow. How would things go on from now? Where would we go? What would we do?! Then I remembered... we had to find the Slenderman.


	10. Chapter 10

**Family not by Blood Chapter 10 To The Slender's Dwelling**

_I stumbled upon that car by accident. It served as the final proof to what I already knew. I was unprepared, I only observed. Those poor people, they don't know the monster they are helping. That boy..he will kill them all, surely. They are all demons! Horrible creatures! They were the ones who brain-washed my sister and took her life..._

_I remember that day I tried to save my sister from the demon. I remembered her telling me that that beast she married couldn't use his power of teleportation when he was under the effect of sleeping pills... So I brought one. It was easy to invite myself over, even easier for me to slip it into his drink, although I could feel it the whole time...that horrible ringing in my ears. He wanted to read my mind. Once he was groggy enough, I tried to strike with a frying pan._

_That's when he showed what he really was. That faceless abomination... I managed to break it's leg. While he was vulnerable, I took my matches and started that fire, making my way out the window. I knew that my sister's son, and my nephew, was still in that house...I knew he may perish as well, but I also knew there were good chances he would turn out being a demon like his father... And here was my proof. I was right._

_What I hadn't expected, was for my sister to run into the flames. It was him again...he must have done something to her mind! He brought her to die. I will get my revenge..._

I woke-up, my neck feeling stiff. I could hear a sound that reminded me of...bells?...No, that wasn't it. I blinked slowly, wincing at the bright light. I was in the car...I remembered last night, but as I gazed to my side, Jake wasn't there. Lee wasn't there either. It was then that I looked at the hood of the car. The two boys were using it as a table. Jake was back to his little human appearence... The sound I had heard was a bowl of cereal being poured.

They both aknowledged me as I walked out of the car. "Hey Jakey! You're back to normal already? I wanted to see how tall you'd gotten..." He reddened, tilting his head downwards until his blonde hair hid his eyes. "I...I don't know mom...I feel safer when you're taller." That simple sentence brought a whole new joy to me. I smiled and hugged him. "Now then, why don't you two save some for me!" Lee pondered this, gazing at the cereal box intently. He then took it in his hand and raised it high above his head.

"Hmm...I don't think so! Early bird gets the worm." I crossed my arms and looked at him with a death glare, preparing myself to pounce on the cereal. Just as I was about to grab it, he moved out of the way. "Hey! Let me have some! I'm a lady, you need to be polite!" The man only laughed, pulling the box away and above his head once more. What he didn't see though, was the black tentacle slowly creeping up behind him. Lee looked up in confusion as the box was yanked from his grip and tossed into my hands, Jake giving me a high-five.

"Family 1, government dude 0!" We all enjoyed a good laugh. It was the first time in so long I had actually fully laughed like this. We all got in the car and finally checked in to that hotel. Upon reaching our room, Jake flopped down face first on the bed. His muffled voice reached my ears. "Uuuuh finally! A real bed!" I giggled slightly, sitting next to him. We looked at each other for a few seconds, maybe a minute. The air started to buzz with his static, in a feeling of anxiety. He then looked down to his feet, crossing his arms and extending his tendrills to curl them around himself. It had become a natural gesture for him. We stayed like this for a bit more, Lee watching from the side, understanding he shouldn't interfere.

"So...mom...you really want to see the...other me." I placed my hand on his shoulder, lifting his face up with my other. His brown eyes met my grey ones. Suddently, I also filled with worry when I had the simple thought that I was asking him to make those wide and innocent eyes dissapear, even if only for a few minutes. I nodded. "Jake, you're my son. I want to know who you are, no matter what...because I care about you." He looked to me again, then smiled.

He backed up a bit and stared to his feet, seemingly lost in thought and deeply focused. Soon, once more, I witnessed his changes. this time though, it was much faster and he didn't seem in distress. Huh, guess he practiced while I slept. Once the change was complete, I stood up slowly, in a state of awe. He was, indeed, taller than I was now. Only by a few inches, but still. We stared at each other once again, and then I opened my arms and he hugged me. I felt his chest rumble as he laughed. "This is so awkward...I'm like...a giant." I laughed too and massaged his back, right above his tendrills.

A few minutes later, Jake was back to human and we all sat at a small table to discuss what we would do next. Lee was the most knowledgable, me and Jake only being here to agree or disagree with what he had to say. Finally, after some thought, we came to a conclusion, a single plan. We would rest early tonight, then get up at around 8 PM. We would drive off to the forest where The Slenderman was rumored to live. However...once we were there, it was preferable and maybe even safer for all of us if Jake went alone to seek his help...

I had wanted to object to this, but Lee's arguments had silenced me. "Cat, suppose we go alone, or just you or me... the slender might be hostile and try to harm us, seeing as we are humans. If we all go together, he most likely won't show up at all... A family taking a stroll isn't too uncomon, and with a slender among us, he probably won't see it fit to go near. That just leaves one option... if he sees a young slender alone in his woods at night, he most likely will approach to offer assistance to a younger member of his kind."

Jake and I had to agree... so we set up our clocks, spent the rest of the day trying to relax and finally went to bed at about 6. Only two hours later, the clock rang...why did we need this two hour nap anyway? I'd be surprised if I even managed to sleep fifteen minutes of that! We packed our things, got out and left. Jake was holding his teddy close, squeezing it tightly. He anxiously gazed out the window. I reached my hand back, humming to calm him...humming in the same way I had yesterday... I gasped slightly though when I felt a warm but cool feeling on my wrist and turned to see that he had clung to it with one of his tendrills. His gaze met mine, looking guilty, but I quickly smiled to him and nodded, resuming my humming.

We didn't even bother trying to listen to the radio. The whole thing was static thanks to poor Jake's stress. We finally pulled up into the parking lot of some run down building, which I imagine must have been a school. Stepping outside, closing the doors, we all just looked at each other. There was a small dirt road that led from the school to the woodland. It was hard to see in the dark though. Lee pulled out a flashlight from his bag, handing it to Jake. I took my son, my eight year old son's shoulder and pulled him back to me in a tight hug. "Be careful out there."

He gave me an other determined look. "I'm a slender, mom. I'm strong!" I smiled, patted his head and sent him off. As I watched him wander down the dirt path, I noticed he was still holding on to his teddy. Right before he fadded from sight, his silhouette paled and increased in height, and then the darkness took him away into the realm of the unknown, into the slender's dwelling. At that very moment I could only think one thing: What kind of horrible mother am I?

**AN: Hey! I haven't been writting many Author's Notes recently...I just have other things to do so I try to save as much time as possible *caugh* playing Pokemon X *caugh*. Anywaaaay...one can not imagine the pride a new author feels when they have MORE REVIEWS THAN THEY HAVE CHAPTERS ¦'3 Thank you all, or more like you two...and YOU, YOU...You know who you are... You, reviewing every single chapter! Ok, you might look like a stalker or something Idk...BUT IN A GOOD WAY! Thanks for being there... So... Those italic backstory things I put in sometimes...ya...you'll be seeing lots of those...all the same story, but told from various points of view... It'll help build the full picture of what happened that day, and I do hope that last one I will write will bring forth some feels among you all...Anyway, thank you for reading...God this AN is long... I could probably just do like...: Z, M. LOOOOOOOOOOL**


	11. Chapter 11

**Family not by Blood Chapter 11 Sent Back and Forth**

As the young slender wandered down the dirt path, surrounded by nothing but darkness, he clung his teddy bear closer. In all honesty, the flashlight he carried didn't help him much. He was perfectly capable of seeing in the dark. If anything, the thin vessel of light was a beacon, a signal that he was here for someone else to see...and he was guessing someone else did notice, as the air began to fill with a certain sense of static, not too different from the one he generated.

Jake began to look around, scanning the darkness around him. He saw nothing, but he could feel something was there, somewhere not too far. He decided to sit down on a boulder that bordered the path, still looking around anxiously. The feeling of static returned to his mind, carrying a sense of curiosity. Jake tried to answer it, although he probably only succeeded in sending off a sense of anxiety and terror. He jolted forward and nearly fell off his seat when he heard a voice from behind him.

"What are you doing out here?" The young boy turned slowly, shaking. He hadn't noticed he extended his tendrills and that they were swirling behind him in a warning gesture. Before him, there stood a tall and thin pale faceless man, dressed in a dark suit that blended into the night and wearing a tie. He had to be a good two feet taller than Jake was. He could feel the other slender eyeing his tendrills, so he lowered them, trying to make himself seem as small as possible. The Slenderman, seeing this, crouched down to try to bring himself to the boy's eye level. Once again, the dark being spoke.

"I won't hurt you... I don't hurt anyone." The man sounded sincere, but it was his aura in the end that told Jake that this was safe. Jake seemed to relax, his shoulders loosening a bit. "You...don't hurt anyone?" Slenderman chuckled, in a way that carried a sense of darkness but also a gentle melody. "You are a slender your self, you must know that we live normal lives as well, right? Well...there are flesh eating slenderfolk, but that's a story for an other time." Jake couldn't take his gaze off the man that stood in front of him. "I...I'm adopted...I didn't know I was a slender until a few weeks ago. I can't even remember my dad at all. My mom, adoptive mom, she sent me to look for you for help." The older slender tilted his head, seeming curious about this.

"Can't remember your dad..." He mumbled it to himself more than anything, Jake barely noticing it. "Ah, I see... You have nobody to help you learn how to use your powers... Well, just by looking at you now, I'd say you're doing great on your own." Jake fully relaxed now, his aura buzzing with a certain pride. His mood then darkened as he asked the question he had been so curious about but didn't ask anybody. "But...what about teleporting? My mom's scientist friend says I need a grown slender to teach me." If the older slender had eyes, they would have probably widened. Even with a lack of most features, his facial expression was one of worry and sadness.

"You need...a blood relative for that. I'm sorry. I can't help you there... And even for your other powers, like I said, I also live a normal life. I have a wife, I have a brother, I have parents and a job." Jake's glum feelings returned, stronger than before. He slouched, hugging his teddy and sniffled a bit. He would have probably cried if he still had eyes. He had been much more accepting of his fate as a slender than he had let show. The idea of all these powers excited him. ESPECIALLY slenderwalking. But that was out of the question...

The taller slender suddently straightened up and his aura flashed briefly with worry. "Hey, don't cry! I know a slender who hangs out on the streets a lot around here. Ok, he's twelve so probably not the best teacher... and he can't help you with slenderwalking, but I'm sure he'd be glad to help you!" Jake brightened up again. He hugged the Slenderman, only to realize what he just did and backing up. Once more the faceless man chuckled. "So, anything else you have to talk about? There must be more than just that if you walked into my forest at night, especially if you thought there was a chance I would kill you."

Jake tilted his head again. "About that, if you never hurt anyone, then why do you have the reputation of doing so?" An other chuckle. "Well, I'm guessing there are many reasons for that... First of all, this isn't the best neighborhood... so some dissapearences do get blamed on me from time to time... Better for me, actually. It strenghtens the lore of my kind and keeps the forest safe. Second, well...I'm surely not the only, or first, slender in this world to take up the position of Slenderman. My older brother was, before me, but he has a family now and can't really keep this up anymore."

Jake looked in wonder, listening to everything this man had to say. In his mind, he imagined a family, with a father and child bearing dark tendrills, tossing a ball to each other and laughing. He shook his head and, being the eight year old he was, asked an other question. "Why is it so important for you to protect this forest?" The man backed up, as if indigniated by this claim. He eyed Jake from head to toe before answering. "Slenderfolk are...connected to nature. Once we get attatched to a woodland, we feel it like part of yourself. Don't you?" Jake looked around as if expecting some kind of weird feeling or event, but he then shrugged and turned back to his elder. "I guess not..."

Jake spoke a bit more with the Slenderman before he remembered that his mom and Lee were waiting in the car. He stood up, and began to walk back down the path he came from, but he sensed the older slender following him a bit. "Your adoptive mom wouldn't happen to be the one in the car in the parking lot by the old school, right?" Jake turned back, looking up to the Slenderman's "face". "Yeah...why?" Slenderman only grinned. "Want me to take you there? It'll be faster." Jake understood what he meant and smiled brightly, taking hold of the other slender's hand. Soon, they both fadded from sight and reappeared right at the edge of the parking lot.

Jake looked around himself, stunned by this, but also saddened when he remembered he would never learn to do this on his own. "Wow, thanks sir!" The man nodded and began to walk off. Jake then thought of something and began chassing after him. Slenderman must have sensed him because he stopped and turned around again. "Mister Slenderman sir, I have one more question for you!" The older slender motioned to him to go on. "If you have a normal life and a human image too, what's your name?"

The Slenderman smiled again. "Leonard Oakson. But you can call me Leo..." And with that, he slenderwalked back into his dark domain. Jake turned on his heels and ran back to the car.

(Catherine's P.O.V.)

I blinked, looking up to see Jake running back towards the car. I instantly got up and out, racing to meet him halfway there and hugged him. "Jakey! You're alright! How did it go?" Jake smiled to me and shrank back down to his human appearence. His aura made the air buzz with excitement and pride. "I met the Slenderman, mom! And his name is Leo and we talked about all kinds of things... He says he's too busy to help me with my powers cuz he has a family too though..." I smiled at his dissapointed tone for the last statement, but he quickly perked up again.

"But Leo says some other slender might help me! He told me where I could meet him too!" I hugged him again, feeling tears slidding down my cheeks. As we held each other close, I couldn't help but state out loud: "My eight year old son is by far braver than I am." Jake laughed and I felt his pride once more. We got back into the car. Lee was snoring calmly, his face against the steering wheel.

I reached out and smacked the back of his head, leaving him to jolt up with a bewildered expression. "Huh? What? Oh...hi Jake! You'll tell me how things went, right?" Jake nodded and I only smirked to him. "Just drive us back to the hotel. We're all exhausted."

That night, we all fell asleep fast. I had to sleep in the same bed as Jake. I did get woken up in the middle of the night several times by his tendrills curling around me in his sleep. It both made me feel proud and care for him, and it freaked me out a little... As I finally fell to sleep for the night, I thought of what we had to do for tomorrow... find this other slender that could help Jake. What concerned me though, was that this slender was supposedly only twelve years old...


	12. Chapter 12

**Family not by Blood Chapter 12 Blue?...**

We reached the spot indicated to us by the Slenderman. I was surprised when I found out it was an old and dusty alleyway. A basket had been attatched to an old and rusted emergency stair-case and there was a basketball in the far corner of the small alley. The place was sort-of hard to find because it was hidden behind a dumpster and had a small wall made of cardboard boxes. I looked to the wall and saw colorful grafiti depicting flowers, grassy fields with the sun shinning. A 12 year old regularly hung-out here?...

We had arrived earlier today. Lee and I were closer to the entrance to the alley, Jake exploring around, looking at the sculptures built from rubish that laid around the small place. It was surprisingly well kept and actually pretty neat when I thought about it. I sighed, looking around again.

The air suddently began to fill with an eerie vibe, my hairs standing on end. Jake looked up and started looking around. His shoulders twitched in a way that told me he was trying hard not to extend his tendrills. There was a presence in the air. It was a slender, no doubt about it.

"Huh, you must be the folks Leonard told me 'bout." I nearly jumped out of my skin, not expecting to hear anyone. I looked up to the stair-way behind me, my mouth still hanging open. It was a slender, yes, faceless with a set of eight tendrills extended. He was dressed in long jeans that looked worn-out and were slightly ripped and a dark grey hoodie, a black cap on his head. He didn't have any shoes on. The main difference between him and Jake, or any other slender I heard of, was that his skin wasn't milky white, and his tendrills weren't black. His flesh had a certain deep blue coloration to it and his tendrills were as white as snow. He curled them around the ramp of the stairs, lowering himself down to the ground where we stood. I gulped. The guy stood at least 7 feet tall.

He looked at Jake, tilting his head sideways and then grinning widely. "You must be the slender! Hey, show some courage. You're a supernatural being with the power to mess up a grown man's mind to the point of turning them insane. Besides, I'm here to be a friend!" Jake relaxed, his brown eyes sparkling with curiosity. He tilted his head to the side slightly. "You're...blue."

The other slender chuckled. "Yeah, I get that a lot... it's a rare sight, the original slender genes originating from Europe and all." He then began to shrink. His skin didn't pale, in fact, it darkened. There now stood a young boy, taller than Jake but still very short. He was an African-American with black dreads that went down to his shoulders. Placing his hands in the pockets of his hoodie, he turned towards Lee and I. Lee had a pure expression of awe. His jaw was nearly at the ground. He blinked and shook his head, readjusting his glasses.

"I...never saw a slender like you before." The boy smiled again. "Huh, well now ya have! My name's Noah by the way." Noah turned to Jake again. "And you are?..." "Jake." Jake had gotten closer, observing the new kid from head to toe...toes that were visible from his lack of shoes. As I saw this kid's kind of beaten look, one that showed especially with his eyes, I felt my motherly instincts kick in. "Noah, why do you play out here? And why don't you have shoes?"

The boy looked at me wearily, as if he was affraid to tell me. He finally lowered his gaze to his bare feet. "My mom, my only parent, isn't really nice to me...she blames everything on me. I can't really play at home, so I play here. But everytime I slenderwalk away without her permision, she punishes me. Last one I got, no shoes for a week!" As he said this, he twirled his toes. Noah's voice held a lot of sadness in there, but it was also filled with a certain cheery and playful tone. He started to scratch his head and spoke up again. "Huh, maybe that's why old Slendy picked me to do this of all the slenderfolk in town... cuz it can help me get away too."

I looked again for a bit before I slowly smiled. Extending my hand out, I motioned for the two boys to follow me. Lee and I walked back towards the car, Jake and Noah following. "Your aunt really wants you gone? Wow...and I thought my familly was crazy... and just cuz you're a slender?!" The two were having an active conversation, both about the pain they were suffering in their lives. I smiled at first, but then I started to feel sorrow and guilt. This isn't something an 8 year old and a 12 year old should be having conversations about...They should be talking about the new games they're playing or the friends they made or even the grades they got at school. Kids should be innocent, full of pure life and joy. They shouldn't be casually talking about the relatives they have that want to kill them...

I turned to Noah. "So, you're going to help my son gain better control over his powers?" Noah, looking disstracted, extended one of his white tendrills out and was looking at it intently. "Yeah yeah. I've been one for 6 years. I think I can show him a thing or two." Jake looked up, his jaw dropping. "You've been a slender for 6 years?! You were six when you got your powers?" Noah nodded, smiling brightly. "Wow, bro. You do math better than I do." This got some laughter from all of us.

Upon reaching the park, the one that lead to the woods where the Slenderman stalked at night, Noah reassumed his other form. The blue-skinned slender didn't seem to be bothered at all by the rocks and twigs under his feet, yet, I made a mental note to get him some shoes eventually. Jake, following his new friend, also assumed his slender form. Noah then paused and motioned for all of us to get closer. "Hey guys, I'm gonna take you somewhere awesome!"

I flinched when a white tendrill curled around my wrist, and was then overcome by a buzzing numbness. My vision blurred for an instant, and then my jaw dropped. We weren't on a dirt path anymore. We were pretty far in the woods, right next to a roaring waterfall. It wasn't very big, but it was what it was. Jake looked the most in shock. "You can slenderwalk?!" "Yeah...my mom might be mean at times, but she knows it's best for a slender to know how to, why?" Jake's tendrills twitched. He seemed hesitant to answer. "I...well... my parents died..."

If Noah had eyes, they would have widened without a doubt. He put his hands in his pockets and looked down, seemingly grieving in silence. "I know that feel, bro..." I also looked down slightly, but I gasped when I felt Jake hug me. "But no worries, my new mommy is the best mom I could ever have!" My eyes widened and I looked to my side. I was on the edge of tears. I hugged Jake as well, burrying my head in his shoulder. It still felt so weird to have an eight year old son who stood taller than me... We then turned when we heard sniffling.

Lee was wiping the lens of his glasses, trying to hide his tears. "Aw come on! I got dust in my eyes." We all laughed. This new addition to our group was really what we needed. Not just for Jake, but for all of us. We needed someone who could brighten up the mood.

**AN: Sorry if this seems kinda bad. I had the general idea for how to do this chapter, but I didn't really know it specifically... Yeah...so I have this little human at school that I talk to at times, and she's black. So we kinda started this weird conversation on what African slender people would look like, if the Europe/America one has white skin. Finally, the idea ended with the color blue. Yeah...Idk... anyway, I hope this is good... and now that answers the question for black people being slenderfolk! Yes, they can be. They're just blue...**


	13. Chapter 13

**Family not by Blood Chapter 13 Unlucky 13**

That night, in the hotel, we got a room with two beds. I was to sleep in the same bed as Jake, and Lee would take Noah, yet, despite it all, Noah insisted to sleep on the carpet. It took long to convince him otherwise. We went to bed, but not five minutes later, there was rustling and Noah was lying down on the floor again. We just gave-up. He'd lose the habit eventually. Noah was using a pile of towels, inprinted with an image of an orange goat, as a pillow. He had his cap over his eyes, blocking out the light and was snuggly wrapped in the dull green hotel blanket, the only object from the bed he had accepted.

An air of peace filled the room. It was surprising and unexpected, that serenity that a sleeping slender's aura could generate.

I awoke, unsure how or why, in the middle of the night. I rubbed my eyes and looked around, nearly shouting and falling back when I caught sight of a tall and faceless white creature laying by my side. It took a few seconds for my sleep-filled mind to remember Jake's condition.

He was still asleep, that I was sure of, yet, he was moving a bit, grumbling slightly under his breath. The static energy that normaly flowed from him was no longer peaceful and serene, it was distressed. He must have been having a nightmare...

I moved closer to him, grabbing him and holding him in my arms. I leaned my forehead on top of his head and began stroking his back, humming softly. He stopped quivering and his breathing steadied, a lone black tendrill curling around my arm. I moved my head back when I heard a slight groan from him and he shook his head lightly.

He raised a hand, most likely to rub his eyes, but he missed entirely and smacked his forehead. "Ouch! Huh? Mom?" He turned to me with a confused expression. I smiled to him and hugged him closely. "It's ok Jakey. You were having a nightmare." He looked around again, then looked back to his hands. I let him go as he turned around to stare at his back, lifting lightly each of his tendrills, one by one. "I...changed in my sleep?"

He looked back up to me. Through the darkness, I saw his little pout and the way his few facial features had tensed up, telling me he would have been giving me those classic wide eyes of innocence, if he had eyes at the moment. He shyly rubbed the back of his neck, looking down to the floor. "Huh...sorry mom..." I smiled to him and laid back down, but felt a bump under me. I reached behind my back and pulled out teddy. Smiling once more, I tossed it at the young slender who received the toy right in the chest and fell backwards in his failed attempt to evade it.

I tried to keep back my laughter so I wouldn't wake the others, but the way Jake struggled to sit up again with his tendrills weakly flailing about was just too..strange and funny...and adorable. He finally managed to sit up, pouting and crossing his arms. He roughly snatched the stuffed bear from the floor with a tentacle, but his mock anger fully fadded and he hugged the bear again, burrying his face in it. I smiled and laid back down once more, ready to fall asleep this time.

I noticed Jake seeming hesitant to lie down again. "You can stay that way if you feel more comfortable." He turned to me, looking shocked. His jaw was dropped and he didn't move. Even his normally whispy and floating tendrills were now completely still. "I...I don't know, mom. I feel good like this, but I don't feel safe when I'm...when I'm taller."

I reached my hand up and ran my thumb from his forehead to his left temple. I would do this often when he was worried to calm him, only usually, it was to brush the hair out of his face... and he lacked both of those at the moment. Still, he calmed down and laid down again. He was curled, in a way that was pretty comical with the odd lenght of his arms and legs. Seven of his tendrills were around him and his precious teddy, the eight curled around my waist.

As I was close to falling asleep, I heard him groaning again and I loked up to see him lifting a tendrill and smacking it roughly on his face, leaving it limp over where his eyes should have been. "Jake?...Are you ok?" He raised the end of the tendrill, a dip in his blank face visible to me. "I don't know how to...y'know...not see." That was it. I couldn't keep it in anymore. I started laughing out loud. "Mom! You're embarassing me."

The next day, we woke-up pretty late, at around ten. Noah was still sleeping, Jake was still a slender. He changed back after a few minutes. I gave my son a mischivious grin and then turned to Lee. "Hey, Lee? How do slenderfolk "not see"?" Jake facepalmed and Lee only looked between us confused.

"Uh..I don't know. Why?" I giggled. "No reason." I turned back and saw Jake's grumpy look, his crossed arms and blonde hair falling over his eyes made me smile. I then remembered the way he sat in this exact same way last night, only with a different face. It was a strange thing to think of. I didn't know how I had accepeted all this so well. Maybe it was because my mind hadn't fully grasped this as reality yet...

We ate breakfast and drove off, determined to find a better place to stay. There had to be a home somewhere, a relative, anything...We wouldn't have an endless supply of money either...we could always call the cops, but that could just push Vivian to act faster...

There was an odd sound and the car shook, slowly going to a stop. We all looked at each other, confused, then stepped out of the car. On the road...right in the middle of it, there was a long plank of wood, imbeded with dozens of nails. The car tires had popped. All four tires, flat...

"You thought I wouldn't find you, didn't you?" We turned around slowly. Vivian. She stood there, still dressed in her same rags. In her hand, she held a hammer, which she was twirling about. "And I see you picked up an other one. Thanks for bringing the trash to me so I could take care of it!" I stood in front of Jake, snarling at the mad woman.

"You don't know what you're talking about!" Vivian started laughing. "Me?! What about you? These _things _are demons! They killed my sister! They are the reason she is no longer here with us!" Lee stepped up, walking at my side. "Was it really them who set fire to that house? Or was it _you?_" Vivian snarled again, throwing her hammer. We ducked, paling as we heard it echo when it hit the pavement far behind us.

"IT WAS THEM! They brainwashed my sister! I could have saved her, but he took her mind and made her kill herself along with him!" I backed away in fear. I blinked and turned back when I heard soft crying behind me. Jake was in tears. He was hugging his teddy as close to him as he could, his four small tendrills curled around himself for comfort.

"Look at him! Look at those things in his back! He's not human. Why do you defend this monster?" Meanwhile, I noticed that Noah had crouched behind the car and shifted to his other appearence. I turned to Vivian once more, hugging Jake close to me. "I defend him because he's my son." White tendrills snaked around us and we fadded away.

We were in an alley, a different alley. All four of us were here, the car as well. Noah was shaking. He then colapsed backwards, Lee and I barelly catching him before he hit the ground. Lee quickly checked his pulse. "Knocked out cold...too much effort for him." I fell on my knees in the dirt, looking around.

"Lee...I know where to go." He turned to me. "Back to my house...she wouldn't expect us to go back to such an obvious place. It could take her some time to find us." Lee nodded. "But first, we need to fix the car..."

I felt arms wrap around me and looked behind me to see Jake again. "We're going home?" I smiled and hugged him close. "Yes." I then noticed his saddened expression, his eyes still red and puffy. "Jake? What's wrong?" He looked down to his feet. "Was she right? Am I really a monster?" I let my jaw drop, hugging him again. "No! Of course not!" "You sure?" "I have no doubts."

**AN: Heeeeeeeeey sorry I haven't written in a while. I just didn't know how to handle this chapter... so yeah...sorry for the delay...I've also been correcting my previous chapters. That's something I noticed the other day...all my loyal readers, y'all waiting to get the chapters as soon as they come out, you get the mistake filled versions. People who are away for a while or catch up on my story much later, well, they get the corrected and over-all better version XD Especially with a fic like Nature's Spirit where I completly re-did every single chapter and went from about 29000 words to around 36000... THAT'S A 7000 WORD UPGRADE...+CORRECTION OF MISTAKES. Anyway, hope this was good, again, sorry for the long wait.**


	14. Chapter 14

**Family not by Blood Chapter 14 How did This Happen?**

We arrived to the location of my old apartment. Noah was still unconcious, laying in the back of the car. We managed to buy some spare tires and fix up the car to drive back here. Noah transporting all of us with the car may have been risky, but it helped confuse Vivian, that's for sure. Right now, we could be anywhere.

We made sure we wouldn't be seen, after parking the car at the back of the building, of course. Jake got out of the car and walked over next to me while Lee struggled to pick up the abnormally tall blue skinned child. It was lucky for us that he was so thin. We climbed in through the fire escape, all the way up to the third floor where my apartment was.

I unlocked the door and we stepped in. I breath in the familiar air, smilling and finding myself assaulted by nostalgia. It had been near two weeks since I had last been here. We made sure to turn off all electronics before we left, so nothing would break and no electricity was being used, so no bills. I smiled when I saw Jake run over to his room as fast as he could and then heard that little _flop_ as he jumped into his bed. It was good to be home.

Meanwhile, Lee had laid Noah on the couch. I could tell the scientist was observing every detail on the strange child. Over all, he was no different than Jake's slender form other than in color. The deep blue of his skin was just so unnatural. I had never seen a living being of this particular color. His white tendrills contrasted to that even more, although he only had three extended at the moment and they were as limp as over-cooked spaghetti.

He yawned, shaking his head slightly. The most unsettling thing about a slender, in my mind, was their eyeless stare. I knew they could see, but I didn't know _when _they could see...or even what they were seeing. I couldn't tell if one was asleep or staring right at me. That's how I felt at this one moment.

Noah reached his frail hand to his lack of a face and rub the spots where his eyes used to be. He then flinched and looked around quickly, his gaze falling on me, or that's what I assumed... "I...where are we?" "At my house. You really scared us back there, falling unconcious and all."

He sighed and laid back down. I decided to go get him a glass of water. As I came back, he was sitting with a tired smile, listening to Jake talk. "That was so cool how you did that! You could teleport all of us AND the car? You saved us." I chuckled and handed the blue slender the cup of water, which he greatfully accepted. His extended tendrills were still as limp as before though.

I sat down on the coffee table looking at him from head to toe, toes still visible because he still had no shoes. "Are you going to be ok? You still look pretty weak." I looked up to me with a confused expression then gazed down, catching sight of his tendrills. He attempted to lift one, but it merely twitched and fell back down. He sighed, allowing his shoulders to droop, and the white limbs returned into his back. "Yeah...it's weird, it's like they're the strongest part of our kind, but they take the longest to recover after we used up our powers too much."

I could tell Lee was taking mental notes from across the room and I shot him an amused stare. He just looked down to his feet, blushing slightly. "Hey! I can't help it, I'm a scientist at heart." We all laughed. I looked around again, finally taking everything in. I was home...we were finally home. My smile widened and I stood up, heading towards the kitchen. "How about steaks for tonight?" There was a collective cheer from the living room.

The rest of the evening went by pretty well. Lee was napping on the couch, Jake was showing his computer to Noah, Noah was helping Jake out with his powers, and I was just looking around, glad to be back. When dinner time came by, all the chairs at the table were finally filled. As I watched my odd little family, none of us related by blood, I thought about how all this came to be.

At first, I was only a single woman, not having dated anyone since high-school, then, I adopted a child. Then, before you know it, he sprouts tentacles and turns into a faceless supernatural being. Not only that, nut I soon find myself with a second child exactly the same.

So here we say, me with my curled dark hair and green eyes. Across from me, a short Asian man. To my left, a black kid and to my right, a small boy with blonde hair and brown eyes. To top it off, two of us weren't even human. I suppose we were one peculiar family. We were a family, yes, but not by blood. How did my life come to be this way? How did I accept it so well? I didn't know. I'm not sure I ever will know. All I do know, is that I care about everyone here. It doesn't matter how long I've known them or if we're related, we're family.

And then it was night once more, one where I found a peace unlike any other before. Jake was fast asleep in his room almost right away. Noah had made his bed on the couch and was quickly falling asleep as well. Lee was about to pull up an air matress for himself, as he decided to set himself up in the hallway. I gazed over to my bed...my oh so comfortable bed... My queen size bed. Then I looked back to Lee.

I suppose, in a way, I owed my friend my life. Suddently, my mind spoke for it's self, not giving me the time to think. "Lee, wait. You can spend the night in my bed if you want." He looked up to me, his eyes widening in shock, well, as wide as they would go. I started to rub the back of my neck nervously. "Well...uh...it's just that... I mean... Everyone else is sleeping on some actual comfortable thing...And besides, you helped save us...we could be dead without you...it's just...it's just..." I was rambling now. He smiled and gently...slapped me across the face.

I looked to him in surprise. "What the heck was that for?!" He only laughed, sounding so childish. "You're rambling, Cat." So that night, for the first night since I was like seven years old and went to bed in my parents room with them, also excluding Jake, I was with an other person... But we were just friends, nothing more.

The air was so calm from the aura of the young slenderfolk. It was their very emotions, cast upon the air. It's static soothed me and I mumbled out. "Crazy how peaceful the air feels when they're here, eh?" But all I got as a reply was snoring. Lee had fallen asleep. I smirked and fell asleep myself.


End file.
